The Watsons claim descent from the Rutland line of
Watsons in England, one of whom became Marquess of Rockingham in 1728.
From this line came John Watson of Crosted, Cumberland who married Jane
West and settled at Kilconnor in County Carlow in 1658, leasing the land
from the Earl of Ormonde. His eldest son, also John Watson, served as a
Commissioner under the Great Seal, helping Sir John Ponsonby's enquiry
into the causes and cruelties of the Irish rebellion of 1641. He built
Kilconnor House where the Watsons lived for many centuries. His son,
another John Watson, born in 1649, became a member of the Society of
Friends and built a Quaker meeting house at Kilconnor, for which he was
imprisoned and had his land forfeited.